Kakuto Chojin

Fighting games on Xbox have been coming since the day one launch of the console. Dead or Alive 3 led the way and now we have a game published by Microsoft Game Studios and developed by Dream Publishing called Kakuto Chojin.

What’s the story behind this game? “Kakuto masters gather to prove themselves in the ultimate fight club. Enter the First of Fire, the brutal underground tournament whose members erupt in savage fury…”

Folks, let me cut to the chase. This game is not very good at all. It is quite possibly the worst Xbox game I’ve played all year. Still interested? Do you like pain? Then read on…

The single player mode has a ‘story’ mode of course, complete with goofy subtitles that make no sense. There’s also a survival mode and a practice mode. There is a pretty neat multiplayer mode in the game with a four-player battle royal.

There are thirteen different fighters you can choose from, but they pretty much all play the same. The graphical representations of the fighters show ‘bulging muscles’ and ‘breathing’ but really don’t add to the gameplay. Of course women’s breasts are featured as nice giant silicon bubbles. I particularly like the guy who looks like Doink or Insane Clown Posse.

As far as the controls go, one button is for a medium attack, one is for a high attack and one is for a low attack. The special move button is there for special moves. One trigger blocks and the other makes you run.

This game is over pretty quick in ‘story’ mode. It’s very easy – extraordinarily easy to win. Your “KO” move is shown in slow motion – too slow motion – maybe it was just me, but it seemed like it took a long time to see that final punch knocking out my opponent – this wasn’t any sort of ‘fatality’ move mind you, just a regular punch, but the camera spins around just to make sure you know you knocked out your opponent. Yay. I get it. I also am beginning to get nauseous from the spinning. Die already!You have five different difficulty levels to choose from and you can also choose the vs. round time and vs. match counts. This of course does not affect ‘story mode’.

There is a pretty nifty four player multiplayer mode – you can all play against each other at the same time but it’s same console only – sorry, no Xbox Live here. Even with multiple characters on screen the graphics are still pretty fluid.

Graphics themselves look great at first glance, but then you begin noticing how static the backgrounds are and how you don’t really do anything with them. Most fighters these days either allow you a ring out or the ability to nail your opponent into a fence or what not. No such luck here—you’ll automatically maneuver away from the close quarters so you’ll have room to attack.

The sounds are drab. The voiceover guy tries to sound very cool repeating what you’ve selected ie “Single…Player” ohhhh. “Story”…The background music doesn’t do anything for me either -- it’s very ho hum. The character sounds aren’t helpful either – Dead or Alive 3 had some pretty goofy sayings in Story mode – “You are not true Shinobi” “I want to be a movie star!” FIGHT. But this one is even worse. One time, Khan’s closing line is the following: “Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha” Thankfully it was subtitled just in case I didn’t understand.

On a tangent, this game reminds me a lot of an old Sierra PC game called Cybergladiators – it just seemed to serve no purpose whatsoever and the fighting was so ‘blah’ that you didn’t really understand why you were playing it.

On the bright side, there are quite a few demos on this disc, including an interactive Shenmue 2 demo, an NFL Fever 2003 playable demo, and a Quantum Redshift playable demo. Also included is a Kung Fu Chaos movie and a Tao Feng movie. Folks, I’m talking about the demos included with the game. This is how much I enjoyed Kakuto Chojin. With Dead Or Alive 3 still available for Xbox, there’s really no reason to even play this game – it may be decent to look at – but that’s all it is good for. Definitely a title to avoid, even at the rental counter.

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This is one of those games that youâ€™re glad you see an â€œonly on Xboxâ€ badge, because you donâ€™t want to see it again. Stick with Dead or Alive 3 or wait for Capcom vs. SNK.

Rating: 4.9 Flawed

* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company for review.

About Author

I am male, married, 31 years old and love videogames ever since my parents bought me an Atari 2600 on December 24, 1979.

My resume for video gaming includes writing for PC Gamer (Contributing Editor, 2000), Operation Sports, Sharky Extreme,and the now defunct Rival Works, in addition to ghost writing for various publications. In addition from 2000 to September 2002 I was Editor In Chief for an online publication that ceased to exist because of the powers that be.

Right now I am playing Medal of Honor Spearhead, Splinter Cell, NHL2K3, Madden and NBA2K3. I love sports games and first person shooters with a pinch of strategy games.

I have two wonderful kids and live in the Northeast. I am a Patriots, Revolution and Orioles fan. View Profile